Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

If I had to pick a “least” favorite book of the series, Hallowed would probably be it — but that’s not even fair because SO MUCH BIG STUFF happened in it …things that made me cry, things that made me rage and things that made me have a really hard time finishing this book off at while at the hairdressers without them kicking me out for being crazy. I really did LOVE it. Cynthia Hand wrote some of the most intense and gut-wrenching scenes in this one and REALLY made me Queen FlipFlopper when it comes to my Team loyalty. After reeling from the ending of Unearthly when we find out that Christian is an angel, I was so torn because suddenly Christian isn’t just the “guy she’s supposed to save.” I commend Cynthia Hand for how she continually manages to really flesh out the characters of Tucker and Christian and make us really fall in love with them and really KNOW them — wish makes us dread Boundless for we KNOW she can only have one…unless there is a polygamist sect of angels that Cynthia is going to throw out at us. I also really thought after the events of Unearthly, in addition to the continually building character development, Hallowed did a good job of showing Clara’s guilt and confusion after her seemingly failing her purpose and I loved that because we really got to see her grow in this book. Girl went through some TOUGH things. So many tears were shed for MANY reasons. Book two brought the feels and showed us a new depth to Cynthia Hand’s storytelling abilities. I fell even more hard for this series!

Boundless by Cynthia Hand

OH MY GOSH. I’m just going to tell you that this was one of the BEST LAST BOOKS I’VE EVER READ and honestly the best book in the series. Was everything wrapped up the way I wanted to? Not exactly — one thing left me a sad panda and there were a few issues I had because I didn’t feel like we understood the purpose of some characters — but honestly EVERYTHING ELSE was perfect. Just perfect. You know how I said Hallowed brought the feels? Well Boundless showed up and was like “You haven’t seen anything yet. Get out your tissues, bitches!” And sob I did during three very poignantly written parts where I was crying for very different reasons. The action and the story arc were just PERFECT oh my gosh. I was clenching that book so hard and ravenously turning the pages until the final pages because Cynthia built the suspense with the precision of an architectural genius. Not only was I DYING to see how Clara and company would tackle their purposes and her super intense vision but I was anticipating/nervous for/neurotically biting my nails over which boy Clara would choose. Because if you thought you were confused about who Clara should end up with, well your head will be spinning during this one! I honestly didn’t put ANYTHING past Cynthia the way things were going down! ALSO. SAMJEEZA. That is ALL! Super sad to see this series end but I had a great time binge reading it!

Have you read this series? What did you think of Hallowed and Boundless? Were you happy with the series ending? What were some of YOUR most memorable moments from these two books? If you want to check out my top 5 favorite scenes of the Unearthly series (as drawn by my 6 year old niece), go here!